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M. D.'LEMASTER.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEVICE FOR EMPLOYEES' ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21. |9111.

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M. D.. LEMASTER.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEVICE FOR EMPLOYEES ELEvAToRs.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21. |918. 1,318,21 1. Patented 00E. 7,1919.

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M. D. LEMASTEH. AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEVICE FOR EMPLOYEES ELEVATGRS.

APPLICATION FILED MAH. 27'. 19H4.

Patented Oct. 7, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

TMVB 0LUMBIA PLANOGRAPH :0., WASHINGTON, D. c

M. D. LEMASTER.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEVICE FOR EMPLOYEES ELEVATORS.

. APPLICATION FI'LED MAR. 27. 19m.

1 ,318,211 i Patented Oct. 7, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

M. D. LEMASTER.

i Y AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEVICE FOR EMPLOYEES' EVLEVATORS. 1,318,21 1.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27. 191B.

Patented Oct. 7, 1919.

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0 6 PLA, M J 4 my V a H a .1J 5 W j. w qu L E f .is m 7 w 4V 4 w www 9/ 4 II TE STATES ATENT MAURICE D. LEMASTER, OF CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE WOLF COMPANY, OF CHAMBERS-BURG, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 0F PENNSYL- VANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. '7, 1919.

Application filed March 27, 1918. Serial No. 224,969.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, MAURICE D. LEMAs- TER, 4a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chambersburg, county of Franklin, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Automatic Safety Devices for Employees Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is used in connection with employees elevators, a type of elevator used particularly in flour mills for employees only in traveling from one floor to another. A standard elevator of this type consists of an endless band or belt which passes around drums, the top and bottom of which are provided with platforms and handholds. The opening in each floor is of suflicient size to allow a single person to pass through while riding on the belt. Then an employee reaches the top floor he must alight from the elevator, otherwise he will be carried over the top and thrown on the floor and badly injured, or perchance killed.

The object of my invention is to provide automatic means for stopping the movement of the elevator, and when the platform, on which the employee is standing, passes the top floor, and before the elevator can start again, the employee must alight from the platform and reset the mechanism.

My invention can be arranged to actuate either an electric switch to stop the movement of the elevator, or to actuate a belt shifting device for thro-wing the belt from the fast to the loose pulley.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1, is a side view of an employees elevator, illustrating my automatic safety device for throwing it out of action;

Fig. 2, is a front elevation; v

Fig. 8, is a sectional plan view on the line 3-3, Fig. 4;

Fig. 4, is an enlarged view illustrating the tripping mechanism;

Fig. 5, is a detached perspective view of the trip mechanism;

Fig. 6, is a detached perspective view of the platform;

Fig. 7, is a perspective view of the trigger;

Fig. 8, is a sectional plan view on the line 8 8, Fig. 3; and

Fig. 9, is a side view showing the application of the invention to a belt shifting mechanism of an elevator.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, 1 is an endless belt, which passes around a driven drum 2 at the upper end of the elevator and around a drum 6 at the lower end thereof. The drum 2 is mounted on a shaft 3 adapted to bearings l on a beam 5, and the lower drum G is mounted on a shaft 7 adapted to bearings in a frame 8 located in the basement or lower licor of the building. 9 is the upper floor and 10 is one of the lower floors. v

11 is a platform mounted on the belt on which an employee stands, and 12 is a handhold which the employee grasps so as to steady himself while the elevator is conveying him from one floor to another. In this instance, the carrying run of the elevator travels upward and an employee is supposed to step onto the platform at one of the lower floors and to step off the platform at any ofv the floors above, but he must step ofl' at the top floor, and if he does not the tripping mechanism will be actuated when the platform passes the top floor, causing the driving mechanism to be automatically stopped and, when he alights from the platform, he must reset the mechanism so that motion will again be imparted to the elevator.

Referring to F ig. 1, 13 is an electric switch, of any suitable type, having a pin 14 in the path of the operating lever 15. 16 is a switch handle. When the lever 15 is raised by the stopping mechanism it pushes the pin 14 up into the switch boX, throwing the switch and stopping the motor. When a passenger steps from the platform, he must readjust the stoping mechanism by pressing down the switch handle 16, which will cause the elevator to start. The lever 15 is pivo-ted at 17 to a bracket 18, which is attached to the guards 19 located on each side of the belt 1, and the outer end of the lever is adapted to a slotted p guide 20 and is directly in the path of a vertical rod 21 of the stop mechanism. This rod is adapted to bearings 22 on one of the vertical guards 19 and has at its lower end a shoulder 23, which is engaged by a trigger 24: pivoted at 25 to a bracket 26 secured to the guard 19. This bracket has a right angled extension 27 in the present instance, through which passes an adjusting screw 28, and a spring 29 is attached to this adjusting screw and to the trigger, as shown in Fig. 7, and secured to the rod is a collar 30. Between this collar and the lower bearing 22) is a coiled spring 31, tending to force the rod 21 upward. Onk the rod is a stop collar 32, which comes in contact with the under side of the upper bearing 22, when the trigger releases the rod and limits the upward movement of the rod. Thus it will be seen that, when the trigger releases the rod, the spring forces the rod up against the lever 15 and this lever throws the switch to the open position, stopping the mechanism.

33 is a hand lever pivoted at 34 to a bracket on the guard 19. One end of this lever is forked and engages pins on the collar 30, so that after the passenger steps from the platform and the mechanism .is automatically stopped, he can reset the rod by raising the handle of the lever, compressing the spring 31 so that the rod will be lowered to a point where the trigger 24 engages the shoulder 23 on the rod, holding the rod out of action until it is again tripped by the platform.

. The guards 19 are flanged, as shown in the sectional plan view, Fig. 4, and rollers 35 travel on the outside of the flanges of the two guards, while the rollers 36 travel on the inner side. These rollers are carried by two side frames 37 of the platform 11 and the board 39 of the platform is mounted between these two frames, as shown. A cross bar 40 extends from one frame to the other and is secured to the belt l by bolts, or rivets; the ends of the bar form trunnions on which the frames 37 of the platform are pivotally mounted.

The end 41 of the trigger is shaped as shown in Fig. 7, and has a double bevel and this portion of the trigger extends into a recess in a flange 19a of one of the guards 19. The lrollers 35 and 36 are located on the frame which is secured to the belt with the rear rollers normally resting against the flanges of the guards 19 when there is no weight being carried by the platform, but as soon as a passenger boards the platform it is slightly tilted, causing the lower roller 35 to bear against the outer surface of the flanges of the guards 19 and, if the passenger does not alight from the platform at the top fioor, the lower roller 35 will come in contact with the portion 41 of the trigger 24 and will actuate the trigger, causing it to release the rod 21 which will be projected by its spring and will, in turn, actuate the switch, stopping the mechanism.

. There is sufficient time allowed between the tripping of the trigger and the stoppage of the machine to carry the lower roll past the trigger, so that the trigger and the rod can be reset by the passenger by lifting the h and lever 33 and compressing the spring.

- In Fig. 9, T have shown my invention as applied to a belt driven elevator and, in this instance, the rod 21, when released, strikes one end of al trip arm 42 which is pivoted at 43 to the belt shifter 44, which is mountvnormally under compression when the elevator is running and the moment the belt shifter is released the spring throws the belt shifter from the position in line with the fast pulley 48 to a position in line with the loose pulley 49, causing the mechanism to be stopped.

A link 52 pivoted to the rod 45 and to the outer end of the shifting arm 42 swings from the position shown in full lines, Fig. 9, to the position shown by dotted lines, and it will be noticed that when the arm 42 is in its normal position, as illustrated ins full lines, the pivot pin connecting the link with the lever is below the center of the shaft 4 5 and this tends to lock the shifter in linej with the fast pulley, as the end of the shifting arm cannot be depressed, as it rests on the end of the rod 21, but the moment the rod 21a is forced upward by its spring it lifts the shifting arm 42 so that the link pivot will be above the line through the rod 45 and the spring immediately acts, moving the belt shifter to the position shown by dotted lines, and the tripping arm to the position also shown by dotted lines. When it is wished to reset the mechanism, the lever 33a is moved so as to compress the spring 31 and the belt shifter is moved into line with the fast pulley and the shifting arm can assume the position illustrated in Fig. 9.

By the above description, it will be seen that whether the elevator is operated by an electric motor, or by another motor, or belting, the tripping mechanism will immediately stop the elevator so that it is impossible to carry a person beyond the topmost floor and over the head of the elevator, and the passenger must alight from the platform and reset the tripping mechanism and the switch of the belt shifter before the elevator can be started.

While my invention has been described in connection with a single platform, it will be understood that where the elevator is of considerable length, for use in a building having a number of floors, two or more platforms may be provided, each having means for tripping the trigger to stop the mechanism if a passenger is carried to a certain point, usually above the upper floor of the building, but it will be understood that, in some instances, the tripping mechanism may be located so as to be actuated at a point loetween the floors, where it is desired to limit the carrying of passengers to a given floor, but the invention is mainly intended for use as a safety device located sufficiently below the head of the elevator that it will be im possible for a passenger to be carried over the head of the elevator.

l. The combination in an employees elevator, of a vertically arranged endless belt; means for driving the belt; a bar secured to the belt and having trunnions; a platform pivotally mounted on the trunnions of the bar and arranged to receive a passenger; a vertical guide vat each sideof the belt; rollers' on the platform adapted to the guides; means for stopping the driving means of the elevator; a vertical rod for actuating the stopping means, said rod having a notch therein; a trigger located in a recess in one of the guides and arranged to engage the notch in the rod; a spring on the rod for raising the rod to shift the driving mechanism 0f the belt so that when a passenger is standing on the platform, one of the rollersv will bear upon the latch, forcing it out of the notch of the rod and allowing the spring to shift the rod; which will actuate the mechanism to stop the elevator.

2. The `combination in an employees elevator, of a vertically arranged endless belt; means for driving the belt; a cross bar secured to the belt; a platform pivoted to the cross bar; a. vertical guide at each side of the belt; two rollers on each side of the platform above the pivot and two rollers on each side of the platform below the belt, the rollers engaging the vertical guides; a notched vertical rod and stop mechanism for stopping the movement of the belt; a pivotally mounted trigger located at one of the vertical guides and engaging the notched rod; a spring for actuating the rod, the platform being so arranged that when a passenger is not carried by the platform the platform will pass the trigger without actuating it, but when a passenger is carried the lower rollers of the platform will press upon the trigger and withdraw it from en- Copies of this patent mayvbe obtained for five cents each, by addressing the gagement with the rod, allowing the spring to shift the rod and actuate the stop mechaligism, stopping the vertical movement of the elt.

3. The combination in an employees elevator, of an endless belt; a cross bar secured thereto; a vertical guide at each side of the belt; a platform pivoted to the belt and having two sets of rollers on each side engaging the guides, the two sets of rollers being arranged side by side, one set of rollers bearing against one face of the guides and the other set bearing against the opposite face and arranged so as to travel free when a passenger is being carried by the platform; a pivoted latch eX- tending into the path 0f one of the rollersI when the platform is carrying a passenger; stop mechanism; and means for actuating the stop mechanism arranged to be released by the latch when the platform passes the latch.

4. The combination in an employees elevator, of a vertically arranged endless belt; means for driving the belt; a platform pivoted to the belt and arranged to receive a passenger; a guide at each side of the belt, the platform loosely engaging the guides; means for stopping the driving means of the elevator; a vertical rod for actuating the stopping means; a spring located on the .rod between a fixed sleeve secured to the rod and a bearing for the rod; the rod being notched; a fixed trigger having one arm adapted to enter the notch in the rod and the other arm arranged tol be located in the path of one of the guides when the platform is turned or depressed by the weight of a passenger; aliandled lever engaging the rod and arranged to compress the spring and toy reset the rod by forcing it down until the trigger enters the notch in the rod.

In witness whereof I aiiiX my signature.

MAURICE D. LEMASTER.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

